science bites and restaurant experiments

Your hair, it’s everywhere

As anyone who’s shared a bathroom/living arrangement with me for an extended period of time knows, I shed a lot of hair, a generous amount that has led me to question if I were actually going bald and would be needing a hairpiece soon.

Naturally I was relieved to learn that shedding is completely normal, and it’s estimated that you drop about 50 to 100 hairs a day. Whew. Hair grows in a cyclic pattern with 90% of the hairs growing at any one time. The ones that aren’t are the ones that fall out, the ones I find all over the floor and on my hairbrush. These hairs have just been in the resting phase which lasts two to three months. To classify what I just described, hair growth has three stages: anagen (active phase), catagen (in-between phase), and telogen (resting phase).

What we term hair is more correctly known as the hair shaft, and it’s all dead and is made up of protein (keratin). The follicle holds the hair shaft, and it’s pretty complex with its sebaceous glands, capillaries, nerves, and muscles/erector pili.

Other fun hair facts: hair grows roughly one centimeter a month. People sport 100,000 to 150,000 hairs on their heads. Blondes have a greater number of hairs on their heads. I’ll refrain from making a blonde joke. Asian hair grows the fastest. And you need to lose 40% of your head hairs for it to be a noticeable loss. I think I’m in the clear.